All American Television

All American Television (an All American Communications company) was a television syndication company active from 1981 to 1997. It was founded by Anthony J. Scotti, Ben Scotti, and Joseph E. Kovacs. The company was known for producing and distributing popular television shows such as "Baywatch" and the Mark Goodson Productions library of game shows.

History

1960s-1970s

All American's roots trace back to 1967 where Anthony J. Scotti was a fledging actor who was famous for playing "Tony Polar" in the movie "Valley of the Dolls". After that, Scotti found his life as an actor boring. He told "Forbes" magazine, "I had come to the conclusion that acting was the most boring God-awful thing a human being could do." He then quit his acting career in 1971 to pursue a career in music. At the time, he was named senior vice president of MGM's record division. Three years later, he teamed up with his brother Ben to create Scotti Brothers Records, a music marketing company that produced the success of artists such as Electric Light Orchestra, Survivor, and "Weird Al" Yankovic.

In 1979, the Scotti Brothers entered the television business by producing a pop music show called "America's Top 10", hosted by popular radio DJ Casey Kasem. Two years later, the show's popularity led the Scotti Brothers to hire entertainment executive Joseph E. Kovacs, and together, they founded New York-based All American Television. The new company was named after Anthony Scotti's success as a football player in high school.

1980s

In 1982, All American hired George Back, the founder of a small television syndicator in New York, and Syd Vinnedge, a veteran of TV and radio advertising.

In 1985, All American went public and began trading as a pink sheet on the over-the-counter (OTC) market. Later, the company joined the New York Stock Exchange.

1990s

1990-1992

In 1991, All American and Scotti Brothers Entertainment Industries merged in a stock swap that created the television and music recording core of what would eventually become All American Communications. Anthony Scotti became CEO of the combined entity, and in January 1991 he hired Myron Roth, a former MCA Records and CBS Records executive, to become the company's new president and COO. Syd Vinnedge was named senior executive vice president and Ben Scotti became executive vice president of the records division. All American was represented by Schwartzman, Weinstock, Garelick & Mann, P.C. The Scotti Brothers Records label distributed its music through BMG Music from 1990 to 1996.

In late 1990, All American paved the way for success when it acquired the first-run syndication rights to "Baywatch" (a fledging beach drama series that NBC cancelled at the time) through LBS Communications. The move paid off and "Baywatch" went on to become one of the most popular TV shows in the world until its cancellation in 2001. In March 1991, All American Television was officially renamed All American Communications. The company then acquired the assets of its "Baywatch" distribution partner, LBS, which at the time had declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. By October 1991, All American announced its long-awaited merger with LBS, and Anthony Scotti decided to name LBS founder Henry Siegel as All American's new president. Henry Siegel's brother Paul Siegel was named the company's new president of international and ancillary markets. The distribution rights of "Baywatch" and "Family Feud" reverted to All American in the agreement.

By late 1992, All American's first big attempt to clone the success of "Baywatch" -- an action series called "Acapulco H.E.A.T." -- had been sold to half of the United States independent television market.

1993-1994

In December 1993, All American's Scotti Brothers Records subsidiary created a new urban rap division called Street Life Records which showcased African-American urban acts such as Skee-Lo, The Comrads, and Craig Mack.

In 1994, All American found itself once again fighting its image as a "one-show wonder" when it was forced to cancel "Acapulco H.E.A.T." after half a season and police drama "Sirens" after one season on the air. In July 1994, despite rumors that Henry and Paul Siegel were fired due to their dissatisfaction with the cancellation of "Acapulco H.E.A.T.", All American acquired interest in worldwide game show production company Fremantle International (not to be confused with FremantleMedia where the rights to this and the All American library stand today) from Interpublic Group of Companies. In exchange for a 20% stake in All American, Interpublic gave All American some of the programming rights to Fremantle International's 93 game shows, which included local language versions of popular American game shows, such as "The Price is Right" and "Family Feud" (All American syndicated "Feud" in the U.S. at the time) -- all highly popular in their foreign markets. A month later, former Fremantle chairman Larry Lamattina replaced Henry Siegel as the new president and CEO of All American Television.

1995-1997

In October 1995, All American acquired 50% of the assets and library of Mark Goodson Productions, the producers of classic game shows including "The Price is Right" and "Family Feud", which the company acquired the foreign distribution rights through Fremantle International. In March 1996, Scotti Bros. Records, which had released some 142 albums since 1982, was officially renamed All American Music Group and announced a distribution deal with Warner Music Group that promised to increase its penetration of the pop music market. A month later, All American acquired the remaining 50% of Mark Goodson Productions from Interpublic, giving All American total ownership of the Goodson library of game shows. Two months later, All American purchased international talk show producer and distributor Orbis Entertainment Company (not to be confused with now-defunct TV syndicator Orbis Communications, although both companies were created by the same two founders Robert Turner and Ethan Podell; Orbis Communications' library is currently owned by CBS Paramount Television and StudioCanal through the acquisition of Carolco Pictures, which acquired Orbis Communications in the late 1980s), which was renamed All American/Orbis Communications. The acquisition significantly bolstered All American's shift into international television production and distribution and led to All American's second domestic attempt into the talk genre in the fall of 1997 with "Arthel and Fred". Its first attempt, "The Richard Bey Show", was cancelled in November 1996. In July 1996, All American formed an in-house licensing and merchandising division to increase control of "Baywatch" and other merchandise lines.

By 1997, the record label was sold to Zomba Music Group's Volcano Records. Meanwhile, All American was sold to Pearson plc's Pearson Television subsidiary, and All American became Pearson Television's U.S. division. When Pearson Television merged with CLT-UFA to form the RTL Group in 2000, Pearson TV became the content production arm of the new group, and then changed its name to FremantleMedia.

Today, FremantleMedia holds the rights to the All American and LBS libraries, as well as the Fremantle International library of game shows, and the Orbis Entertainment library of talk shows.

See also

* FremantleMedia
* LBS Communications

External links

* [http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/All-American-Communications-Inc-Company-History.html Company history at fundinguniverse.com]